House group backs media shield law

A bipartisan group of House members advocated for a shield law Wednesday to protect the press in light of two recent cases in which the Justice Department obtained journalists’ records.

Reps. Ted Poe (R-Texas), former journalist Trey Radel (R-Fla.), John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) are among those pushing for the legislation, which would allow a federal entity to obtain information from a journalist only if certain conditions are met — such as potential harm to national security and preventing an act of terrorism.

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“We all agree that free press is extremely important for a democracy, especially America’s democracy,” Poe said at a press conference. “This May should probably be renamed ‘May Intimidation Month’ because of what has happened in the month of May.”

“First, earlier this month, we learned that the Department of Justice secretly launched an investigation to find out who leaked information to the press that was justified by saying it was taken in the interest of national security. But it was nothing short of, in my opinion, a massive intimidation fishing expedition where the government seized phone records of journalists.”

Poe was referring to recent revelations that the Justice Department seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press as part of an investigation into a leak over a failed al-Qaeda plot. Days later, The Washington Post reported that Fox news reporter James Rosen had also been tracked by Justice, which seized Rosen’s personal e-mails, phone records and records of his visits to the State Department.

The proposed bill is similar to measures that passed the House in 2007 and 2009 but was unable to garner enough support in the Senate. According to the bill, journalists would only have to disclose the information if a court compels them to.

“There was no shield law in place that would cause a pause,” Jackson Lee said of the Associated Press case. “So I want to end my remarks by renaming the bill the “pause act,” and to allow its value to go as far as one can imagine. It gives you a time to pause, to think and to have to seek an additional affirmation before you go any further. That’s the American way that’s constitutional.”

Despite the bipartisan push in the House, when the AP case was revealed, Senate Republicans were still divided on whether a federal shield law was needed, POLITICO previously reported.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday that despite the lack of GOP support, he would bring up a shield law “as soon as possible.”

“I wish the Republicans hadn’t blocked the shield law previously, so we’ll bring it up again, and I hope they won’t block it again,” he said.